To boost your company’s social media presence, your social media manager should have the right mix of skills.

Every social media team is different. They vary in size and structure. And while your team may have specific people in charge of copywriting, creating visual content, or SEO, every social media manager should still embody all these skills if they hope to lead effectively and make smart business decisions.

Here are 8 essential skills that every social media manager should have:

1. Project Management

Strategically managing tasks and individuals is an important skill to master as a social media manager. You need to ensure that your social media strategy aligns with business objectives. And you will need to effectively manage the team who will help you implement your strategies.

Marketing environments are fast-paced and constantly changing. To keep up with them and your team’s efforts, utilizing marketing project management software to complement your existing project management skills will help you streamline your processes.

2. Community Management

Community management is the ability to navigate to promote your brand while engaging with customers. The aim is to convert observers into customers by patiently answering their questions. Your team may have a dedicated community manager, but it is ideal that you also know how to be responsible for advocating your brand on social networks.

3. Public Speaking

How confident are you speaking in front of an audience? A social media manager should have the courage to speak to their viewers. With Facebook Live and Instagram Stories becoming more and more popular, it’s apparent that live video is huge on social platforms.

4. Copywriting

Writing good copy is expected of a social media manager. You’ll be crafting tweets, filling up social media profile description, writing Facebook posts and Instagram captions. If you want to drive engagement and invite clicks, you’ll need the writing skills to create captivating stories for your social media post.

5. SEO

An understanding of SEO is essential for optimizing content so that search engines will rank high for your keywords and phrases on Google. SEO knowledge paired with content marketing skills can be beneficial in writing the best copy that will rank well.

6. Analytics and Revenue Tracking

It’s essential to know how to measure the impact of your campaigns and marketing initiatives on social media. A skilled social media manager is able to understand both social media metrics and business metrics to gain insight on the company’s social media performance in relation to business goals.

The Google Analytics Academy is a good place for you to start learning about intelligent data collection and analysis to ensure that your social media strategies are effective.

7. Basic Photography and Photo Editing

While many use stock images, it is ideal for every social media managers to know how to capture original photos. And since social networks mostly cater to mobile devices, it’s not necessary to have expert-level knowledge in photography. In fact, photos that are taken with exceptional camera phones and edited using photo editing apps are just as captivating and shareable as professional photos.

8. Design and Video Creation

The evolution of social media over recent years has been fascinating. We are now seeing the rise of video as the content of choice for many social media users. This is why designing and creating visual content is becoming an essential skill for social media managers. Creativity and an eye for design comes naturally for some people but it is a skill that can still be learned.